CVE-2025-11992: WordPress Multi Item Slider CSRF Flaw

CVE-2025-11992 Overview

CVE-2025-11992 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting the Multi Item Responsive Slider plugin for WordPress. The flaw exists in all versions up to and including 1.0. The plugin's mioptions.php page lacks proper nonce validation, allowing unauthenticated attackers to forge requests that update plugin settings and inject malicious web scripts. Successful exploitation requires tricking a site administrator into clicking a crafted link or visiting an attacker-controlled page. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-80 (Improper Neutralization of Script-Related HTML Tags in a Web Page).

Critical Impact
Attackers can modify plugin settings and inject stored scripts into administrator sessions by exploiting missing CSRF protections, enabling downstream cross-site scripting attacks against site visitors.

Affected Products

Multi Item Responsive Slider plugin for WordPress (mislider)
All versions up to and including 1.0
WordPress sites running the vulnerable plugin with an active administrator session

Discovery Timeline

2025-10-24 - CVE-2025-11992 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-11992

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the mioptions.php administrative settings page of the Multi Item Responsive Slider plugin. The page processes state-changing requests without verifying a WordPress nonce token, which normally ties a request to an authenticated user's session. Without this validation, WordPress cannot distinguish between a legitimate administrator action and a forged request originating from an external site.

An attacker hosts a malicious page containing an auto-submitting form or JavaScript that targets the plugin's settings endpoint. When an authenticated administrator visits the page or clicks a crafted link, the browser sends the request with valid session cookies. The plugin then updates settings using attacker-supplied values, including fields that render in the site frontend or admin dashboard without sufficient sanitization, resulting in script injection.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or incorrect nonce validation in mioptions.php. WordPress provides wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() helpers to prevent CSRF, but the plugin does not enforce these checks before writing user-supplied option values. The vulnerability chains with insufficient output encoding, aligning with CWE-80, which permits injection of basic HTML and script tags.

Attack Vector

Exploitation occurs over the network and requires user interaction from a privileged victim. The attacker crafts an HTML page hosting a hidden form that POSTs to the vulnerable settings endpoint on the target WordPress site. When an administrator with an active session loads the attacker's page, the browser automatically submits the request. The plugin accepts the forged values, persists them, and later renders the injected payload in a browser context, executing attacker-controlled JavaScript.

No verified public exploit code is available. Refer to the Wordfence Vulnerability Report and the WordPress Plugin File for source-level details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-11992

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected modifications to Multi Item Responsive Slider plugin options in the wp_options table, particularly entries containing <script> tags or event handlers such as onerror= and onload=.
HTTP POST requests to wp-admin/admin.php?page=mioptions.php originating from external Referer headers.
Administrator browser sessions loading unfamiliar third-party pages immediately before configuration changes appear in audit logs.

Detection Strategies

Review WordPress access logs for POST requests to mioptions.php where the Referer header does not match the site's own domain.
Scan plugin option values for HTML and JavaScript payloads that should not appear in slider configuration fields.
Correlate administrator authentication events with subsequent option updates to identify requests that occurred without direct admin panel navigation.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable a WordPress activity log plugin to record option changes, user sessions, and administrative actions with timestamps and source IPs.
Deploy a web application firewall (WAF) with rules that inspect POST bodies for script tags targeting plugin endpoints.
Monitor outbound requests from administrator workstations to identify visits to suspicious pages that may host CSRF payloads.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-11992

Immediate Actions Required

Deactivate and remove the Multi Item Responsive Slider plugin until a patched version is released, as all versions through 1.0 are affected.
Audit plugin option values for injected scripts and restore known-good configurations from backups where necessary.
Rotate administrator credentials and invalidate active sessions if forged requests are suspected.

Patch Information

At the time of publication, no fixed version has been identified in the available advisory data. Monitor the Wordfence Vulnerability Report and the WordPress plugin repository for a security update that adds nonce validation to mioptions.php.

Workarounds

Restrict /wp-admin/ access to trusted IP addresses using web server rules to reduce exposure of administrator sessions to CSRF payloads.
Instruct administrators to log out of WordPress before browsing untrusted sites and to use a separate browser profile for administrative tasks.
Configure a WAF rule to block POST requests to mioptions.php that lack a same-origin Referer header.

bash

# Example nginx configuration to block cross-origin POSTs to the vulnerable page
location ~* /wp-admin/admin\.php {
    if ($request_method = POST) {
        set $csrf_check "";
        if ($http_referer !~* "^https?://your-site\.com/") {
            set $csrf_check "block";
        }
        if ($arg_page = "mioptions.php") {
            set $csrf_check "${csrf_check}_mioptions";
        }
        if ($csrf_check = "block_mioptions") {
            return 403;
        }
    }
}